South Korea's defence chief on Friday pledged strong revenge for any provocations by North Korea in an order marking the anniversary of a cross-border gunfight a year ago.
"We need thorough punishment against provocations by the enemy," Defence Minister Kim Kwan-Jin said in his order.
He urged troops to be ready for the North's "sudden" provocations like the bombardment of Yeonpyeong island, a flashpoint in the Yellow Sea, last November.
The attack killed two South Korean Marines and two civilians and damaged scores of buildings.
"Our military has been burning with rage," Kim said, adding South Korean soldiers should "bear the responsibility to beat the enemy and pay them back at any cost".
The North has reinforced its coastal artillery with dozens of new cannons aimed at Yeonpyeong, the South's Yonhap news agency said Friday.
The extra deployment of 76.2mm guns with a range of 12 kilometres (7.2 miles) came after the South sent extra weaponry to five islands near the disputed sea border, it said.
The defence ministry declined to comment. Yeonpyeong is only 13 kilometres from the North's artillery.
"It's seen as a reaction to the reinforcement of our weaponry on (frontline) islands," an unnamed military official told Yonhap.
Relations have been tense since Seoul accused its neighbour of torpedoing a South Korean warship in March 2010 near the Yellow Sea border, with the loss of 46 lives.
The North denied sinking the ship, but South Korea has since staged a series of military drills alone or jointly with U.S. troops.
In a commentary on Friday, the North's ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said tension was rising near the sea border because of "provocative" live-fire drills and other exercises by South Korean troops.

Those fucking shits in North Korea deserve utter annihilation for what they have done to their neighbors, their own people, and the wider world. There is no more insane and inhuman hellhole on earth than North Korea.

Obama needs to smack lil' Kim severely around the head an' shoulders...North Korea threatens to attack SKorean leader's office23 Nov.`11 &#8211; North Korea threatened Thursday to turn Seoul's presidential office into a "sea of fire," one day after South Korea conducted large-scale military drills near a front-line island attacked by North Korea last year.

The exercises marked the first anniversary of North Korea's artillery attack on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong that killed two marines and two civilians. The North's military warned in a statement Thursday that "a similar sea of fire" may engulf Seoul's presidential Blue House if South Korean forces ever fire a single shot into North Korea's territory. The warning was carried by North Korean state media. Pyongyang blamed Seoul for provoking the attack last year, saying it struck after warning the South not to carry out live-fire drills in waters that both Koreas claim as their territory.

South Korea's drills this week involved aircraft, rocket launchers and artillery guns and took place off Baengnyeong Island, another front-line territory near the disputed maritime border. Officials said they were meant to send a strong message to North Korean rivals stationed within sight just miles (kilometers) away. No live-fire activities took place. The North Korean military threat comes despite recent signs that animosities between the rival Koreas are easing, with diplomats seeking to resume North Korean nuclear disarmament talks.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday that he was sorry North Korea has not yet apologized for the shelling, according to his office. He also said he expects Pyongyang to apologize if North Korea wants to improve relations between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war because their 1950s conflict ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.

New intelligence indicates that North Korea is moving ahead with building its first road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile, an easily hidden weapon capable of hitting the United States, according to Obama administration officials. The intelligence was revealed in a classified Capitol Hill briefing last month. Its existence was made public in a letter to Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta from five House Republicans.

As members of the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces , we write out of concerns about new intelligence concerning foreign developments in long-range ballistic missile development, specifically ballistic missiles capable of attacking the United States, the Nov. 17 letter said. We believe this new intelligence reiterates the need for the administration to correct its priorities regarding missile defenses, which should have, first and foremost, the missile defense of the homeland.

Officials familiar with the intelligence said government analysts believe the missile could be a variant of North Koreas new Musudan intermediate-range missile, first disclosed publicly in October 2010. Other intelligence indicates that the new ICBM may be under development at a huge missile testing facility on North Koreas western coast. Prior to its mobile ICBM, North Koreas long-range missiles were the pad-launched Taepodong-1 prototype, and the Taepodong-2 (TD-2) dual-use ICBM and space launcher. The TD-2 was test-launched in April 2009.

Direct threat

Mobile missiles are difficult for tracking radar to locate, making them easier to hide. They also can be set up and launched much more quickly than missiles fired from silos or launchpads. China's military recently deployed two new mobile ICBMs, the DF-31 and DF-31A. It is not known whether North Koreas new mobile missile is based on Chinese technology. China in the past has provided missile technology to North Korea, a fraternal communist ally.

The first indications of Pyongyangs new mobile ICBM were made public in June by Robert M. Gates, who was defense secretary at the time. After a speech in Singapore, Mr. Gates said, With the continued development of long-range missiles and potentially a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile and their continuing development of nuclear weapons, North Korea is in the process of becoming a direct threat to the United States. The new intelligence was discussed during a closed-door briefing in mid-November for the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces and discussed in the letter to Mr. Panetta. The letter did not say specifically that the missile was North Korean, but it quoted Mr. Gates on Pyongyangs mobile ICBM development.

Those fucking shits in North Korea deserve utter annihilation for what they have done to their neighbors, their own people, and the wider world. There is no more insane and inhuman hellhole on earth than North Korea.

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Yep. Guess where North Korea is in this picture. If the AGW cultists get their way all of Earth will look like this...well except for the elite of course.

We import goods from the North now that Obama signed the Free Trade Agreement with the South..

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No we don't. Read your own link.

And I find it hard to believe that you served there and can harbor such a ridiculous denial of reality as that the need for forces along that border is a "scam." It's sure as hell real enough to the people who live in South Korea. It was real enough to the people killed in that attack by North Korea last year. Not every facet of life has to be crammed into some absurd conspiracy theory you know.

And I find it hard to believe that you served there and can harbor such a ridiculous denial of reality as that the need for forces along that border is a "scam." It's sure as hell real enough to the people who live in South Korea. It was real enough to the people killed in that attack by North Korea last year. Not every facet of life has to be crammed into some absurd conspiracy theory you know.

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A joint manufacturing facility is a "conspiracy theory"? Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.

I've been to Korea 8 or 9 times over the course of that last 27 years. Every time I go there, Koreans tell me reunification is inevitable. Well if that's true, then how about stopping with the play acting that goes on in the DMZ.

Either the North is the enemy or you're operating a joint manufacturing facility with them which means they're not the enemy.

Tell me again why we have troops in Korea? The only logical explanation is the Military Industrial Complex wants them there. Or was Eisenhower a "conspiracy theory" too?

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